day 6: Making our way back to Alberta

our business in Alberta isn’t done yet there is so much left to see! making our way back, we spend the entire day going through and exploring the beautiful Yoho national park, filled to the brim with gigantic mountains, huge waterfalls and raging blue rivers flowing from the glaciers above.

what a way to start the day

starting the day we took a small hike to the camp site we wanted up in the wapta falls recreational site to see this absolute beauty of a scene. a large waterfall in the wapta valley beneath gigantic mountain filled with the golden light of the morning sky. what a magnificent way to start our morning.

taking our time on our way to Yoho national park

making our way back to Alberta we passed through the stunning Yoho national park making stops at every exit ramp we saw, our first stop took us to a small meadow on the sides of the kicking horse river to have our breakfast and mandatory coffee, every turn and every stop we made left us dumbfounded by the scenes all around us. glaciers overflowing mountains casting shadows on the valley bellow all the while bright blue waters rush down cascading rivers.

what a sight to behold.

taking in the sights at every turn

our first stop into Yoho national park was at the natural bridge on the way to emerald lake. once a raging waterfall, the raging waters of kicking horse river carved its way through the bedrock forming a natural bridge. this landmark set the scene for what’s to come throughout the day as we say the logo of Yoho national park depicted an immense waterfall, it was now our goal to find this waterfall. in the mean time here is a really nice quote found at the bridge

“water flows through time and wears down mountains. in the moment of our lifetime we see but a part of the process. yesterday’s waterfall in today’s bridge, becoming tomorrow’s chasm.” -Yoho national park

the magical emerald lake

making our way up the mountain pass we made it to emerald lake. a stunning green lake filled with green glacier waters. I find it really fascinating that the different minerals inside different glaciers gives them and there respective rivers distinct colors ranging from emerald green to bright blue to frosty white. walking up to the lake, you are transported to what seams like an enchanted place of wander as the dark waters reflect the surrounding mountain and the forested island found at its center.

driving to Takkakaw falls

driving through the valleys glued to our windows in awe, we found out where the famous waterfalls where located. deep in the Yoho valley, the mountain pass took us past spectacular views of the glaciers nearby and making us go up a step of steep consecutive hairpin turns. this is one of the best drives i’ve ever done in my life.

Takkakaw falls

making the final turn to the end of the valley, Takkakaw falls begins to show itself. the water flowing from the Yoho glacier carved itself into to side of the mountain to form a behemoth of a waterfall, the scale of witch is surreal. from a distance the water falling down the cliffs seams to go in slow motion falling almost 400m before slamming into the valley below.

Try to find Marty for scale.

Off to lake Louise for an early night

as we planned to get up crazy early tomorrow to g see the sunrise at moraine lake, we decided to reserve the last camp site available at lake Louise. being ravished by hunger we also decided to splurge a full 8$ on two foil wrapped potatoes and a few sausages to cook on the camp fire. we ate like kings. the camp site was really nice as well, overlooking mount temple and the 5 peaks surrounding mount Victoria; also, having a bear fence was reassuring!

day: 5 tearing up on the beautiful road to bc

After the grueling hike of yesterday, a rest day was in order; we enjoyed our morning at the hostel then made our way through the Rockies into bc for that sweet free camping!

enjoying the morning

Waking up past 9 with a fresh shower, we took our time and enjoyed our morning, worked on the pictures and blog of the previous days while talking over breakfast with our new friends from the hostel. Sharing stories and setting up a pseudo route for the weeks to come making sure we where going to see everything we wanted to see while not wasting all of our gas money.

camping in bc is rad.

With an idea in mind we headed off to bc for the abundant free camping. Alberta is absolutely beautiful but finding a place to camp for free is a lot more complicated then we imagined. so we decided to run away from that problem to bc! and wow… bc does not disappoint, off every highway you can find free recreational camping sites. If they are all full, no worries, as long as you are not disturbing anybody and there is no sign saying otherwise you can camp there! (in general, exceptions exists). With this in mind, we headed off on highway 1A west towards Banff making a few stops along the way,

tears of amazement where shed today

making our way out of Canmore into Banff, the views where outstandingly beautiful, with the sun starting to slowly start its decent the sky turned a fire-ish orange making the surrounding mountain contrast with the forests bellow. at every turn of the valley a new mountain more beautiful then the last showed itself the shear size of it all makes you realize how truly small we really are. the raging river in the middle of the flowing forests of bow valley below the towering peaks was overwhelmingly beautiful. while driving down, the realization that I was living my life long dream overflowed me with emotions as tears of joy started running down my face. what a place to be.

this is the reason we came here.

into bc we go!

slowly making our way through the valleys, amazed by the jaw dropping scenery before us ,we stopped at the border between bc and Alberta for supper, with a naturel rock table and gigantic mountains filled with glaciers we enjoyed our beef jerky noodles looking on in wonder of the days to come

finding a camp site

when it came to finding a camp site we wanted to find a place really epic to spend the night we tried to go to Wapta falls recreationally site but sadly the two available site were already taking (with hindsight we really could have there but we didn’t want to disturb the people that where already there) so instead we went to Fraser creek recreationally sight. a small meadow on the shore of a beautiful river flowing white and blue from the glaciers above. although absolutely beautiful, we where deep in bear country, deeper into the wilderness that we’ve ever gone before, being out of our comfort zones filled us with excitement as we settled in for the night.

Day 4: random alpineering

today, with no prior plans as usual, we set our gaze at the mountain in front of our campsite and decided that it didnt looked too unclimbable! we probably got ourselves over our head for our first hike but no regrets were had between us as the views where absolutely stunning

wake up early get out earlyer!

after waking up in our second questionably legal campsite, we got out as fast as we got in, before anybody spots us and starts asking question. this is a really good motivator to get up early and start the day!

before we left our spot, we had a look at the surrounding mountains and decided that the one in front of us looked like it could be climbed! and sure enough after a quick search we found out there was a trail going up to the peaks then around the ridge. after that our minds where set that we where going to climb a mountain today.

Ft. heart mountain in the background.

heart mountain horseshoe trail

This trail passes by five different peaks, including: Heart Mountain, Grant McEwan Peak, and three smaller unnamed peaks. starting our hike we didn’t know anything about how hard the trail would be or where the trail would take us, but with the power of a GPS we started our ascent. the first part of the hike was grueling, at every step it seamed that the slope was getting steeper and steeper. At one point, we arrived over the tree line to a pretty rad scramble, where we had to climb up a few short vertical rock faces. On the bright side, despite the difficulty the reward was more then worth it. With a stunning view over bow valley as you climb and once you reach the top you are greeted with a full 360 view of the surrounding mountains, lakes and rivers. it made the pain we endured to get here all the more gratifying and worthwhile.

this is the reason we came out west.

tim’s tally is on the rise again!

about 3/4 up the first peak, while climbing one of the rock faces, Tim forgot to secure his wide angle lens to his bag…. Before we knew it, we saw the lens fall down 2 separate cliffs before resting on a third ledge. sadly it did not survive (see picture to the left).

rip lens.

meet our new friend

as a small sub goal of this trip, we really wanted to see some snow in July, thankfully we where greeted by a small patch of it near the top of one of the summits! so of course we rushed to it and made a snow man.

this is Bertrand.

a jolt of energy

as we made our way up the peaks along the ridge, we heard thunder crackling in the distance and we noticed dark clouds forming just above our heads. rookie mistake. always check the weather. realizing that the top of a mountain is the worst place to be during a thunder storm we picked up our pace and hurried along down the mountain. to make matters worse we sadly ran out of water 3/4 of the way along the trail. the descent was mentally and physically challenging to say the least. but the looming clouds and rumble of the thunder was a great motivator to keep going.

a bed and shower was now a desperate need

with the hike done, we where burnet by the sun and our legs didn’t want to function as they should. Tim decided that a shower and bed was needed, so we looked up a hostel in Canmore. this was one of the best experience of my life. we met up with a group of backpackers, travelers and similarly minded people. one of the locals showed us a secret place along the river where we built a small campfire looking out at the sun set over the valley

absolutely beautiful, the vibe of it all was beyond my wildest dreams. sharing our adventure stories in this stunning setting with a few drinks was one of the best nights so far.

Day 3: down and up to the Rockies

What a day! This wouldn’t be an adventure if things went perfectly! today was full of ups and downs, literally and figuratively. down in the canyons of Drumheller all the way up to the backcountry mountains of the Rockies

high above the canyon

the day started in an epic way as we woke up still atop the horse thief canyon, Tim had the great idea to take out his drone so we could take a look at a birds eye view of this natural wonder.

The Hoodoos

after leaving our questionably legal camp site we headed off to hike and explore the Hoodoos. These natural structures are flat rocks sitting on top of sand stone pillars. a very weird sight to see… but it fits with the beauty of the surrounding sandstone cliffs

Disaster Struck

Like all adventure that ever adventured things tend to go wrong at one point or another. with the dust of the badlands settling in, disaster struck when Tim’s camera body decided to fail as the shutter crumbled away.

Pictured to the left is the last picture ever taken with my trusty Canon 80D. You can clearly see the dust speck on the sensor which ended up being the cause of its demise.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Although very unfortunate, it means an upgrade is on the horizon! mixed emotion from sadness to excitement came about when we drove out to a BestBuy in Calgary to get a new and improved camera body, (the old one can hopefully still be repaired and sold) so at the end of the day life is good!

speaking of the end of the day.

we decided it was finally time to head out to the Rockies. took highway 1a westward bound and wow… i’m struggling to find the words to describe the feeling of seeing the Rockies slowly approaching in the distence for the first time. before weknew it we where hunched over looking at the towering mountains arround us. never have i seen something as massive, imposing and beautifull.

we where utterly enthralled in this foreign beauty

the continual question of where to sleep

we made it a point of this trip to try and minimize all unnecessary spending and a place to sleep is one of them! why pay for a hotel or camping when we have tents on our backs and endless wilderness surrounding us. after a few hours looking around and learning the incredibly complicated policies of public land camping in Kananaskis we ended up finding a nice trail off the highway with back country camping spaces, although still unsure of the legality of our stay it was a really really nice one out in the valley looking on at heart mountain towering over us

Day 2: Into The Badlands

to start, this morning we took advantage of our last time in the luxury of a hotel by taking our sweet time enjoying the free wi-fi, electricity and breakfasts. things that will be scarce from here on out!

setting ourselves up for succes!

Today’s plan was to try and get most of our supplies for the next month. we started off by heading over to MEC to get a few things such as: a head lamp for Marty, bear repellent and a new trophy bottle. totally forgetting about the camp stove fuel… guess we’ll have to go without coffee tomorrow… but thankfully we had more success at Costco witch to my knowledge we didn’t forget anything meaning that we should be good for food for the next month!

ft. Tim and our little home on 4 wheels.

into the prairies we go!

After our little shopping spree we started heading over to Drumheller, a small town we previously didn’t even know existed that was suggested by our airplane friend Dylan. to get there we took what seamed to be the longest straight road in Canada, its baffling how different the scenery is here compared to the east coast, huge rolling hills turned into flat fields stretching out over the endless horizon with roads slicing the landscape in mile long squares. absolutely stunning.

the wild wild west

Deep in the badlands of Alberta, we arrived in Drumheller a small town with its surroundings straight out of a wild west movie deep in the canyons, famous for its dinosaurs and absolutely jaw dropping scenery. this place feels like Radiator Springs from Cars with the huge walls and pillars of sandstone surrounding the valley, we never imagined seeing something like this in Canada!

flashback to the jurrasic age

after taking in the views we headed over to the royal Tyrrell museum to see real dinosaur bones and cool fossils. although unsure in the beginning this place blew me away! we where able to see full dinosaur fossils and we learned a lot about the different ages and how we came to be! apparently Alberta and BC are one of the most fossil rich places on earth.

night in the canyons

realizing that we didn’t know where to sleep we started our little vagabond research and ended up finding a little place out of town called horse thief canyon.

probably the best decision we could have ever made, with clear skies and jaw dropping scenery, we were able to set up our camp and assist to one of the most beautiful sunset in the world.

ft. Marty atop his little corner of nowhere.

todays tally:

marty’s kill count goes up to 2.

Tim forgets the name of Drumheller over 7 times.

Day 1 - Arriving in Calgary

This morning did not start as any other day. we woke up in an unfamiliar place for the first time in a long time, but we better get used to it because that’s not gonna change soon !

a nice send off after a nice reunion.

after saying our goodbye’s to Josée and Kyle (Marty’s sister and her boyfriend) they drove us to the Ottawa airport where we would board our flight and start our epic journey out west! the flight itself wasn’t half bad actually, for the record breaking low price we got with flair air (275$ ROUND TRIP.) We where expecting it to be packed like sardines with no seating but thankfully we had seats that weren’t uncomfortable and a great view out of the window. We where also lucky enough to have great company sitting next to use as we met Dylan.

Make it stand out

having never seen the endless flatness of the prairies we where glued to the window looking on at the picturesque chessboard made out of countless square fields. kind-of glad we ended flying instead of driving through them, I think the flatlands would have been interesting the first few hours but after 3 days it would have gotten old haha. arriving close to Calgary we flew over Drumheller a small town that Dylan told us about that has a huge canyon going through it where archeologists found dinosaur remains (we will have to go check that out up close!). it really looked like a crack on the floor looking from above, truly a cool sight to see!

marty the mountain fangirl

Finally arriving in Calgary we could see the looming shadows of the Rockies in the distance to say that we where fangirls at that moment would be an understatement as we have both never seen them before. after landing at the airport we went to go pick up our mini rental car that we will call home for the next month but to our great surprise we got upgraded to a Hyundai Kona instead of the Chevy spark we reserved, this is absolutely great news! eager to see and explore the city we headed off to go walk downtown and attend the Calgary stampede as its this weekend! sadly we couldn’t attend any of the shows because it costs and arm and a leg but the atmosphere was nice and finally being able to see crowds acting normally was a strange but welcomed sight. after that we had a fun getting lost trying to find our car, as we wanted to see the sunset falling over the mountains. we ended up going a bit out of town in the suburbs to find a nice walking park atop a hill where we could see the valley in front of us and the Rockies out in the distance.

what an awesome way to end an awesome day.